Indigenous communities often reside in remote areas where educational facilities are scarce. Many Indigenous youths face significant barriers to accessing schools, leading to lower enrollment rates compared to the majority population in Cambodia. Reports indicate that Indigenous Peoples generally have less and later access to education at any level, especially the university level, which severely limits their opportunities for educational improvement. Indigenous youths in Cambodia face a complex array of challenges in education, including limited access, cultural disconnection, inadequate infrastructure, socio-economic pressures, discrimination, and language barriers.

Capacity building and strengthening Indigenous youth to access quality and higher education are crucial to offering the Indigenous young generation skills, knowledge, and wisdom for their own lives, communities, and nations. Indigenous education focuses not just on academic skills but also on emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual growth. This approach nurtures the whole youth, fostering a sense of belonging and well-being. Strengthening Indigenous youth to access to formal and informal education/learning, where transformed Indigenous youths have skillful, knowledge, and wisdom to bring to their community through providing them with scholarships, accommodation/dorms, learning courses, and meals for them while studying.

Program 1: The Establishment of informal education occurs outside the traditional school system, including learning from everyday life experiences, family, friends, and communities. Create an Indigenous comprehensive club/course/program for youths to support effective Indigenous human resources and to support the community and society. Through our program, we will allow Indigenous students access to regular training/workshop sessions, including soft skills such as communication, leadership, and digital literacy, and teach them about Indigenous knowledge and wisdom. Fellowship and alumni programs are essential for Indigenous youths to keep connected and support each other in the future.

Program 2: Provide accommodation/dorms for Indigenous students at the high school and university levels. The Indigenous Dormitory program aims to offer a safe environment for Indigenous students pursuing high school and university from diverse provinces in Indigenous rural areas. Our dorms provide inclusive backgrounds without discrimination based on political, racial, color, or religious factors. Furthermore, our dorms wish to serve daily meals to ensure students’ nutritional needs, which leaves them without worries about food security while studying in high school and universities.

Program 3: Formal education by engaging and collaborating with education partners, as well as, ministry, schools, organizations, universities, and private sectors to increase scholarships for Indigenous students at national, regional, and international levels. Through this engagement, Indigenous youths have received scholarships and the ability to pursue higher education in the country and outside the country.

Program 4: Provide an internship and volunteering program to Indigenous youths and students to gain new experiences, knowledge, and skills from the association, partners, universities, organizations, private sectors, etc.